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5030
El Camino Avenue, Carmichael, CA 95608, (916) 609-5100, fax (916)
609-5160 info@riveroak.org |
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It's
never been easy to be a teenager, but some adolescents act out in
ways that put them at risk of being suspended, kicked out of school, beaten up or incarcerated. They're not bad kids. They behave the way they do because they just don't know how else to behave. Teaching Prosocial Skills is a kind of adolescent intervention that uses an effective research-based model of treatment to help troubled teens: |
Teaching
Prosocial Skills |
•
Develop social skills, • Learn anger management strategies, and • Enhance their moral reasoning skills |
Through
the program, six to eight boys or girls aged 13-18 years old meet
as a group with specially trained staff professionals for 10 weeks, along with their parents or caregivers. During a recent graduation ceremony, a group of young men shared the positive reactions they had received from teachers, foster parents, and friends in the four to five weeks they'd started using their new skills. People in their lives were surprised when they didn't respond to a situation in the same old way. The teens themselves were surprised at how recognizing situations that triggered their anger enabled them to plan ahead and respond in ways that didn't lead to an explosion. The California Department of Probation views Teaching Prosocial Skills as an alternative to continued incarceration in fulfillment of the anger management training requirement. River Oak is the only children's mental health agency in the Sacramento area to offer the program on an outpatient basis, and has adapted the program for individual treatment for children and youth who are unable to attend the group program. Teaching Prosocial Skills groups are available to teens receiving services through River Oak, who are referred to the program by their clinical team member. |